More belated pics

Friday September 1st. No.2

The farewell reception/celebration at Council chambers was really enjoyable.  we heard from so many of our billet families, what fantastic students we have!  They have loved hosting our kids.

The evening consisted of speeches from The Mayor, the Vice-Ricteur in charge of Education in Noumea, a representative from the NZ consul in New Caledonia ( the Consul was unable to come) and the Principal of Jean Mariotti College. Then it was our D.P's turn! Baz was a bit nervous about it all but Veronique translated it all and he did very well.  There were lots of accolades from the dignitaries about the work that has gone into the great success our exchanges have been so far and a fantastic Powerpoint was shown with photos of all the exchanges since the beginning. I certainly looked a little younger back then!

Jesan Mariotti performed a couple of items and then we sang our waiata and the boys did their haka. It was fantastic and we were very proud of them. Renata then asked all the french boys up on to the stage to perform it with them. It  was lovely to see both cultures sharing like that. A little later both french and our boys all went outside and stood under the eaves facing the city and did the haka again. It was so loud and it was awesome to hear those words being resonated across the centre of the city!

The Council provided a fabulous array of food for everyone so all in all a great night.

                The kids all waiting for speeches to start. Host families in the background.

                                                            The Mayor of Noumea

                                                                 The french kids

                                                                           Waiata

                                                                   Our boys in action

Well, it's 10pm and I've just turned the last lights off. They are all packed so I'll be waking them at 6.30am, brekky at 7.30 then downstairs at 8.30.  Home about 9pm - a long day! I'll text you when we leave Tokoroa to give an ETA at school.

Au revoir for the last time!

Colleen

Belated Pics

Friday Sept 1st

Bonjour tout le monde!

Well we have one very excited bunch of kids here at present!  We met the kids and their billet families in the reception area of our hotel at 7am. After fond farewells, we were lucky enough for the kids to be able to get into their rooms instead of us having to wait until 2pm as we usually do. ( Baz and I had to wait until 2pm though!).

We ventured off to the beach at 9am to begin our paddleboarding/ kayaking session.  There was a breeze down there but that didn't stop our crew from diving straight into the water!  Yesterday when we went down to catch our water taxi to Isle du Canard, we passed a couple of St Tropez style sunbathers!  They were sooo brown and set back from the water's edge where we were walking that they went completely unnoticed by the kids, which is always a relief.  It's difficult for the kids to ignore them if they are spotted - especially the boys, who in the past have nearly tripped over themselves as they gawp walking past!  Today's sun worshipper though was every bit as brown but a bit more obvious.  Just another cultural difference for the kids to observe!

They all had a great time on the paddle boards and kayaks. once Chris was up on one, there was no stopping him!

Much fun had by all

We walked up to the reserve area in front of the Hilton and ate our lunch there before the shopping expedition that followed!  There is a huge treasure chest of goodies coming your way very soon!

  Baz composing questions for our Mathsmatters competition in a couple of weeks while the kids shopped!

I'm about to take the kids downstairs for dinner. I will post yesterday's pics when we come back to our rooms.